Flowers in the Mud

I had about 5 different ideas for what I wanted to write about over the past several days, but the horrific events at Viriginia Tech today have muddied my mind and heart. I first saw the news on-line this morning that 2 students had been killed by a gunman in a dorm at Virginia Tech. My heart sunk at the thought of another innocent young life. Then, this afternoon I read that, more than 30 people had been killed by a gunman on the Virginia Tech campus. Unfortunately, it comes as no surprise that a country that has spent the last 4 years "fighting terrorism" by sacrificing over 3,000 young Americans and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilinans, is now facing a surge in violence at home.
The weather today seemed to match the news; the late spring snow that fell yesterday was melted by a heavy rain. The snow covered ground began to turn into a muddy mess. It often seems like the earth/weather are reflecting what is going on in my own life. Perhaps it is just that nature offers metaphors for every kind of human emotion and we just notice the metaphors in nature that match our current mood or thoughts. The shootings at Virginia Tech left me with a heavy and unformed sadness that is comprable to the mud that comes after a late spring nor'easter. The thing about spring mud is that flowers always follow. So, out of this mud, both human and natural, come flowers. It is my hope that instead of just a media blitz of horror, the massacre at Virginia tech, will bring some positive changes, that will lead to a more peaceful world. For now, my thoughts are with the families and friends who lost loved ones to this senseless violence. It is our responsibility to plant flowers of peace in their place.